South Bend neighbors see tree 'butchering' to make way for Knute Rockne home relocation

SOUTH BEND — A project to relocate legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne’s first home in South Bend, which sits in a leafy neighborhood near the university, sparked controversy when nearby residents started to see tree branches falling.

Jay Brandenberger, a Notre Dame faculty member who’s lived in the Harter Heights neighborhood since 2004, said he looked outside last week and saw workers sawing branches off of a mature pear tree in his front yard.

He counted 14 branches gone from the tree before he could ask the crew to stop.

“Many, many trees look terrible,” Brandenberger said, “and they’re likely to be dying in the next year or so from being taken in half, or the weather will knock them over since there’s no balance.”

The crew worked for Heartwood Tree Care, a Granger-based company hired by a nonprofit called Habitat for Missions to trim a number of city-owned trees. The canopy supposedly impeded a path along St. Vincent Street where the home will be moved.

But Heartwood Tree Care lacked the required permit to remove even a single branch.

A city spokeswoman confirmed the contractor failed to follow city code requiring a permit to prune trees on so-called tree lawns, which are strips of public property between a sidewalk and a street.

Heartwood Tree Care has been forced to stop tree-cutting until it has a permit and residents’ concerns are addressed.

The project is to move the 1,664-square-foot home at 1006 St. Vincent St., where local realtor Steve Smith says Rockne and his family lived from 1920 to 1929. Habitat for Missions, a Christian nonprofit, buys, renovates and sells distressed houses to raise money for religious groups and causes.

At the end of July, the nonprofit intends to move the house about a half-mile west, then sell it and give 90% of the profit to help Covenant Christian School in Mishawaka build a new gym and expand classrooms.

Residents question whether the "butchering" along St. Vincent Street was necessary or ecologically sound.

St. Vincent Street had featured a beautiful canopy, neighbors said. It was shady in spots to keep pedestrians, bicyclists and parked vehicles cool.

But visiting the scene Friday to stop the carnage, city forester Brent Thompson found a Catalpa tree and a red maple that were nearly split in half. He saw a mature silver maple tree that lost three large limbs and is now likely to rot. Dozens of branches were razed from spruce trees.

Neighbors lament how the street is now eerily bare and exposed to the harsh summer sun.

The canopy “won’t ever come back in my lifetime,” said Erin Ryal, who has lived with her husband in the couple's St. Peter Street home for about two decades. “It won't be the same, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“It just makes me sick, and someone needs to pay. This has been really mishandled.”

The incident comes less than two months after South Bend said it strives to cover 40% of the city with an urban tree canopy by 2050. The average tree canopy in 2019 was 26%, which is on the low end of the national average among cities.

“You can’t glue the branches back on; that’s the problem,” Thompson said. “And we can’t bring in a tree the same size to replace it.”

"This really hurt our urban canopy," Thompson added.

A robust canopy has many environmental benefits. Trees remove carbon from the atmosphere, prevent flooding and erosion, and cool down neighborhoods, according to city plans.

More tree cover has also been linked to public health benefits like improved mental health and lower crime rates, according to a 2020 paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. More street trees tend to mean higher property values, too.

Thompson, who has spent 31 years working for the city, said his job is now to visit each resident and work with them to determine how many of the trees can be saved. Especially with mature trees, removing 25% of the foliage can send the tree into a death spiral.

“The trees needed the foliage to produce energy,” Thompson said, “and they'll be using up all of their reserve energy trying to make up for the tree loss.”

“They’re already stressed out,” he added, “and now we’ve added another stressor to them.”

Companies respond to backlash about tree-cutting

Clint Williams, the owner of Heartwood Tree Care, said in an email Thursday morning that Habitat for Missions subcontracted his company to trim trees and to clear the Foster Street lot.

The company believed it had obtained all permits, Williams said. But cutting stopped when he learned more paperwork is required because the trees are owned by the city.

"We have submitted all paperwork and paid the necessary fees and will wait for resolution prior to completion of our services on the (Habitat for Missions) project," Williams wrote. "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."

Steve Smith, the owner of Irish Realty and a Habitat for Missions board member who's overseeing the project, is on vacation and unable to respond to questions, his staff said.

In a written statement, Smith said he sent an email May 31 to leaders with the city, Notre Dame, the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization and the Northeast Neighborhood Council to inform them of the plans to move the home.

Many neighbors say they were unaware of the tree-cutting until signs went up on the day it happened. Smith said he regrets the lack of communication.

It’s unclear why the nonprofit is moving the Rockne home from its current site to a vacant lot at 1105 Foster St., which is owned by a Pennsylvania company called FD Foster LLC, according to county property records. Local developer Pat Matthews donated the home and owns the parcel where it still sits.

The Zillow price estimate for Rockne's first home at its current site ranges from $467,000 to $576,000. The more prominent Rockne home is the 4,180-square-foot home he commissioned in the Sunnymede neighborhood. The English Tudor-style house is at 1417 E. Wayne St.

Smith said he hopes a new owner will move into Rockne's former home by next summer.

Email city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend urban canopy cut for Knute Rockne home relocation